Orlando radio station WUCF chronicles the legacy of civil rights martyrs with ‘Moore Challenge’
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A UCF student journalism project traced the lives and legacies of Brevard County’s civil rights martyrs Harry T. and Harriette V. Moore. The Moore project was a collaboration between WUCF public television and the Nicholson School of Communication and Media at UCF.
The couple were teachers and heavily involved in the civil rights movement in Mims, Florida in the 1940s and early 50s. Harry T. Moore even founded the first NAACP chapter in Brevard County.
On Christmas night 1951, they were murdered by white supremacists who planted a bomb on their home. They had just celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary.
Student journalists in UCF Professor Rick Brunson’s class interviewed people affected by the Moors and their work, past and present, including members of the Brevard County’s NAACP, the Moors’ great-grandson, investigators of the case, among many Black activists Lives Matter Others.
Although their memory and legacy have been brought to mind through a replica of their home, street signs and the Moore Cultural Complex – all in Mims – their history is not widely known. The Moore Project is trying to remedy this.
WUCF Executive Director Phil Hoffman spoke about raising story awareness through storytelling projects.
“In this era of racial reckoning in our country, it’s important to tell these stories of people who have worked for justice to educate our audiences and engage them in this meaningful conversation,” Hoffman said.
The project came after Brunson recently reported on social media about a visit to the Moore Cultural Complex. Hoffman later turned to him and offered to work on the student project.
Brunson hopes the project will have an impact on UCF students and the larger central Florida community.
“We are very grateful to Phil and WUCF for suggesting and fully supporting this partnership,” Brunson said in a press release. “It has been so rewarding and a privilege for the students to honor the heritage of the moors and the impact of their lives on central Florida and beyond.”
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